A US-based Hindu group is highly critical of Taiwan’s reportedly proposed restrictions on burning incense.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) said that incense restrictions would be an unnecessary obtrusion on Hindu devotees, who had been waving incense in front of the images of deities for ages as an act of homage to the divine manifestation.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, indicated that attempts at regulating incense usage would be a religious infringement as incense was very important part of offerings in Hinduism and used in daily puja rituals while worshiping deities.

Religious use of incense had ancient origins and incense burners were said to have been found in Indus Valley Civilization (2500-1800 BCE). Taiwan was a diverse society now and there were considerable numbers of adherents of Hinduism, Rajan Zed noted.

Zed urged Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Lin Chuan and Environmental Protection Administration Minister Ying-Yuan Lee to relook into the incense restrictions proposals so that all Taiwanese could continue practicing their religious traditions freely and without any unnecessary government regulations.